Chapter 10: Chapter 9: Desperate Ground

June 26th, 2038/ Cheektowaga NY

As I grab the Inducer from the floor the now familiar pain of being hit by a shockwave starts to kick in. Unlike last time where the confusion about what was happening deadened the pain, this time it's my wide-eyed fear that drives me forward.

Without thinking I dive forward behind the overturned and cracked table in front of me—the same one we were just sitting at a few seconds ago. As I hit the table, I see Terrance next to me, alive but bleeding from a big cut on his upper arm.

“You ok!?” he yells at me.

“No! I’m not ok!?” I instinctively scream back.

“Well grab a weapon cause they gonna come for us any second now,” he quickly says back as he pulls out a pistol from his belt. I look down at my hands and realize that I’m still holding the Inducer. I look up at Terrance who is already looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“You think you can get it to work?” he asks.

“If I can’t we’re gonna die,” I reply.

As I begin to go into my pocket to grab a cable to hook the thing up Terrance leans over to look past the table.

“They’re not moving Amina…” Terrance says trailing off a bit with a genuinely concerned look on his face.

“What you mean they’re not moving?”

“I mean there’s definitely 3 DHIS Jump Suits out there along with a bunch of other cops, but they’re all behind their cars. I think they’re not rushing us because of the hostage.”

“Or they think we have the weapon.”

Immediately I hear a noise coming from the kitchen. Oh shit the backdoor!

“T! The backdoor!” I scream.

Terrance immediately turns his head and aims his pistol towards the doorway that leads from the dining room we’re into the kitchen where the backdoor is. Through the door comes Duce, Onyeka, and Jump Suit!

“Oh my god, y’all ok!” I scream.

“Barely,” Onyeka says with a look of distress on her face. Duce has the same look with more anger while Jump Suit is squirming with the bag back over his face.

“Where’s Rome!” I exclaim.

“Over here,” Rome says as he limps up behind Onyeka.

“We couldn’t see y’all after the explosion and ran into the kitchen. The guys grabbed ya boy from downstairs,” Onyeka says.

BZZZZZZZZ!

My HUD starts making this horrible buzzing noise like an old school dial-up modem from the ’90s. I look around and everyone else has the same confused look. I think we’re being hacked! Right before I pull the HUD off my head a voice comes through.

“This is the Department of Homeland Investigation and Security. Is our officer alive?” I can hear the voice both over my HUD and through a drone that’s blaring from the street.

Nobody responds, we all simply stare at each other not sure whether we should respond.

Jump Suit starts to squirm again. “Y’all better say something before they blow up the rest of the place!” He exclaims.

“You just don’t wanna get killed with the rest of us,” Rome retorts.

“Of course I wanna live asshole!” Jump Suit yells.

“Well, if we let him go like they’re probably gonna ask, they’re gonna murder us all immediately after,” Duce says as he glares at Jump Suit.

Another beep comes through our HUDs.

“If you are debating whether to cooperate, just know that cooperating is the difference between getting arrested and getting turned into a heap of ash. The fireball was your first and last warning.” That DHIS officer won’t wait long for our response.

“So, what’s our play y’all,” Onyeka says. I look across our group and realize that this is all my fault. I’m the one who proposed the heist idea and decided to take the agent. I need to get us out of here.

“Y’all. I’m going to plug into this device and provide a distraction while y’all escape out the back and take on whoever might be waiting back there,” I say with my voice shaking.

“Hell no!” everyone says at once.

“Remember what dude said about using an over wire connection? It might backfire!” Onyeka screams.

“She’s right” Terrance adds.

“Well, I’m not giving y’all a choice!” I yell back at them. Before anyone can stop me, I click the reply button connecting me to the officer on the other end of the line.

“Is our officer alive and are you ready to send him out?” the officer asks.

“Yes, he’ll come out the hole you blew in the house,” I reply tersely.

“Afterwards, you will surrender to our officers without resistance. Any weapons and we open fire,” He replies flatly.

“Gotcha,” I say back, disconnecting the connection right after.

“Sis, nah you can’t do this. I can provide y’all cover while Duce goes out the back,” Terrance tries to interject as I check the cable one last time.

“No T. You know as much as I do that, we don’t have a choice.” My voice trails off as I say this wondering if all I’ll achieve is getting myself killed a little bit quicker. I’ve always wanted to be a revolutionary, well here we are.

“You’ll need some fuel. Dude said they used diamonds so does anyone have earrings or some jewelry?” Onyeka asks with tears in her eyes.

Everyone shakes their heads. Jump Suit simply continues to hyperventilate under the bag we have on his head. I look around and notice a bag of weed on the floor.

“Haha no,” I silently chuckle to myself. But wait...plants have carbon like everything else. Well, if this isn’t a goddamn cliche.

“Duce! Hand me that bag of weed!” I say to him.

“No...Amina…seriously?” Onyeka asks as I start dropping the buds into the device chamber.

“We need carbon as fuel, and this is the closest we got. When I activate this, I need y’all to run. Like quickly cause I don’t know how this is going to go.” I let out a big sigh as I strap the device to my arm and plug in the cable to my HUD. I turn on AUX mode on the HUD. All I gotta do now is hit the on button.

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Sighing Duce pulls out his pistol. “I’ll take care of them,” he says with uncharacteristic somberness. We nod at each other as he and Onyeka let go of Jump Suit and pull Terrance up from the floor.

“Make it out,” Onyeka says with a serious face, tears still pooling in her eyes. I nod back at her, cracking a small smile. She smiles back.

I turn to Terrance, and I already know what he’s thinking. “T. You saved Onyeka and I at the waterfront. It’s my turn to return the favor. I don’t need you to look out for me anymore,” I say to him. When he nods back at me, I know I’m ready. If this is it then at least I didn’t take it laying down. Like my ancestors Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Nanny, and Harriett Tubman, I’m not running.

As I begin to turn around, Rome pokes Jump Suit in the back and tells him to start walking forward. As he stumbles past the table, the rest start to move towards the back door. I look down at my arm ready to press the button and fulfill that angry promise I made back at the Ferry projects.

Just as I’m about to hit the button, I’m distracted by multiple flashes coming from outside. Oh no…

I look up and see Jump Suit at the hole in the living room. He suddenly spins around towards me and pulls off his hood and looks at me. Suddenly a bullet whizzes past me almost hitting him. I turn my head and it’s Terrance trying to shoot him. I swing my head back immediately and I see Jump Suit turning and taking off running towards the cops cars on the street.

“You got this,” I whisper to myself as I smash the on button. A bright flash blinds me as I begin to feel lightheaded. I feel out of my body. The device feels warm on my arm. I look down at it and see….sparks!?. There are sparks around my hand and I can feel each of them. What’s weird is that I don’t feel them in a static shock kind of way but like an extension of my own body like they are little fingers reaching out into the air.

I look forward again to see two Operators swing from the side of the wall and begin to rush me, hands extended. I do is instinctively put my hands out in front of me waiting for the fire to take me out.

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

A loud boom goes off around me as I feel my body being slightly pulled forward like inertia. I see the lightning bolt leave my hands, shattering part of the table into bits, speed out the gap in the wall, and collide with a cop car. The two Operators dive away left and right! Oh shit! Ok, think and point Amina!

As they back up, I hold my hands out again towards each of them and bolts extend from the space around me, along the sides of my arms and into their chests. They fly back and hit the ground, groaning in pain.

“Ancestors,” I scream. Right then I hear gunshots behind me and the screen door slamming. The others are making their escape. I hope they get out.

Bullets start whizzing into the house from the front and I duck behind the remnant of the table again.

“Shit! I can’t stop bullets even with this!” My rapid breathing starts to create more sparks around me, but these are different than before. Instead of feeling like fingers reaching out they feel like they’re squeezing myself to death. This is what happened to Jump Suit’s buddy, but I can’t stop or else the Operators outside are going to turn their attention to Onyeka and the crew.

As the bullets keep coming, I stay low and run around the side of the table avoiding the gaping hole in the living room wall. I fall forward into the wall; my body still being accosted by the sparks which are getting worse the more I move. I start fidgeting my fingers to try and calm myself as I plan my next move.

Suddenly the bullets stop.

“They’re too close! Artillery!” I hear someone scream from outside.

I peak my head around the bend in the wall and I see the other cops duck under their cars they’re using for coverage shooting blindly in our direction while the only three Operators who are out there line up behind the door of the car closest to with their hands outreached in a half-circle...and a glowing ball starts to form between them.

“Wait...are they about to…,” my voice trails off as I realize that they’re about to nuke the house. I gotta get out of here. As I’m thinking this the sparks striking me intensify, make me bend over in pain. I need to figure out how to control this before I electrocute myself to death or get blown up.

“Sis!” I hear someone scream from behind and to the right of me. I swing my head around and see Onyeka poking her head out at the edge of a window on the right side of the house where there’s a short stone wall.

“We’re pinned down! We can’t run into the next yard or out to the street!” she screams at me.

“I can’t control it!” I scream back knowing that I’m our only hope of getting out of here.

I swing my head back towards the front and see that the glowing ball has turned into a firebomb in just a manner of seconds. I can’t wait...I can’t wait...I gotta do something…

As I start hyperventilating, the sparks become bigger bolts and the first one to hit me leaves a burn mark right above the inducer. As I wince from the pain, I realize that I’m starting to glow. I don’t exactly know how this is happening, but I know that what’s about to happen is going to be more deadly than that firebomb.

“If I can’t control this, I need to at least make sure everyone else gets away,” I say to myself in a strangely indifferent tone. I stand myself back up straight ready to run towards my demise. Everything else, including the bolts, fade from view as I prepare myself for what is likely to be the last thing I’ll ever do.

I turn towards Onyeka, locking eyes with her. She knows what’s about to happen.

“Empty your clip towards them! Now!” I scream across the room. She taps who I think is Terrance on the shoulder and I see them starting to fire.

I take one big breath and roll on the wall around the corner of the hole and start sprinting towards the enemy, bolts of electricity streaming off my body. Immediately I see the three Operators notice me and they pull their arms from the firebomb. The other cops stop firing and duck down at that moment.

I’m not going to make it! Maybe if I discharge right here, I can at least create enough of a distraction for the others to get away.

I turn and slide a bit across the grass to stop. A flurry of emotions well up in me and I envision my hands reaching out and grabbing the firebomb.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I yell at the top of my lungs. And suddenly everything turns white as I feel my body being crushed by electricity. As my eyes widen anticipating this being my last moment, my field of view suddenly clears up.

I see the Operators all push forward at the same time, launching the firebomb. Instinctively I push my hand forward with all the force I still have and the air in front of me explodes into a wide and bright lightning bolt that instantly rips through the front lawn, hitting the fireball.

BOOOM!

The fireball explodes in a thunderous red and blue flash. Right as I get thrown back, I see the cop cars under the fireball explode. I hit the ground hard. Suddenly a shockwave rushes past me throwing me back further towards the house. Somehow, I don’t feel like I did from either of my other shockwave situations. I immediately sit up and ancestors...

The cop cars are burning, the cops themselves nowhere to be seen. The street is shattered in a big circle around the impact site. All the houses around us have frontal damage and blown-out windows. There are drones on the ground and all the electricity seems to be out.

“Oh my god...what did I do?” I whisper to myself. I then immediately think about the crew.

“Oh my god! I hope I didn’t kill them!” I stand up and run to the side of the house where Onyeka and the others were.

As I turn the corner, I see the stone wall that was there shattered and everyone on the ground starting to get themselves up.

“Are y’all alright!?” I exclaimed as I grab Duce’s arm to pull him up.

“Yea we’re ok aside from having a bunch of rocks thrown in our faces,” Duce responds while dusting himself off.

“Yea you’ll get used to that rattled feeling,” Onyeka adds as she and Rome help Terrance up off the ground.

“Are they all...?” Terrance asks cautiously.

“Yes, all gone I think,” I respond breaking his gaze. I look down at my hands, still sparking, finally realizing how dangerous this technology truly is.

Right then I hear sirens from down the block. The SafetyAI must have called for backup after the drones went down.

“Close your eyes real quick,” I say to everyone. As I turn to the heavy wood fence behind the house, I imagine my hands reaching out and pushing the wall back. I push my hands out and a surge of lightning tracks down my arms and strikes the weak concrete wall, blowing a hole in it. I kneel over in pain as I look at my left arm which has numerous burn marks from not only the earlier battle but this last volley.

BEEP

As I look at my arm the Inducer lets out a beep and shuts down, the small strip panel on the side reading “REFUEL.” Guess we only get a few minutes of use out of these each time we fuel them up.

As I run behind everyone else going through the hole in the wall, I glance at the Inducer again. All this death and carnage just to get our hands on this. Hearing the SafteyAI drones start to siren all over Cheektowaga I realize that at this point this is no longer about doing the right thing, but about surviving.

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